Biography

Andreas Mogensen is an astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was selected in May 2009 as one of six new European astronauts, the first new class of ESA astronauts since 1992. He is the first Danish astronaut to be selected. On 1 September 2009, Andreas began the astronaut basic training program at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.

Andreas received his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in October 2007. His research interests include guidance, navigation, and control, mission analysis and design, and trajectory optimization. His dissertation research focused on Mars approach navigation using Doppler measurements from the Electra UHF transceiver. While a graduate student, Andreas worked as a research assistant at The University of Texas Center for Space Research.

After graduating, Andreas was employed as an AOCS engineer with HE Space Operations and worked as a contractor for EADS Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where he worked on the AOCS design for the SWARM mission. He was later employed as a research fellow at the Surrey Space Center, University of Surrey, where his research focused on precision guidance, navigation, and control for pinpoint landing for lunar and Mars missions.

Prior to starting his Ph.D. degree in 2003, Andreas worked as a control systems engineer in the R&D department of Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark, where he developed control algorithms for pitch-controlled wind turbines. Andreas also worked in the off-shore oil industry in West Africa for Schlumberger, where he provided well-site drilling and measurement services.

Andreas received his M.Eng. degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College, London in June 1999. As part of his thesis research on control systems for UAVs, he worked at the Institute for Systems and Robotics in Lisbon, Portugal.

Andreas was born in Denmark and has lived around the world, including Thailand, Singapore, England, Portugal, Germany, the Congo, California, and Texas.